Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness gave Elizabeth Olsen's Wanda Maximoff a new role as the story's primary antagonist, coming after she fully realized her Scarlet Witch persona. Going on a different path than her journey of self-discovery and grief in WandaVision, Wanda made her presence felt in the sequel almost immediately upon entering the fray.
Following an epic opening battle between Gargantos and Doctor Strange, Wanda revealed that she was the one that sent the giant octopus as she tried to take America Chavez's powers for herself. However, in the weeks following the sequel's release in theaters, fans learned that this introduction wasn't always how Wanda was set to first appear on the big screen.
First revealed a couple of weeks after Doctor Strange 2's opening weekend, Marvel removed a scene from the movie that would have shown Wanda taking out Chiwetel Ejiofor's Earth-616 version of Baron Mordo, in gory fashion at that. Now, with the 28th MCU movie available on Disney+, new behind-the-scenes images reveal even more of how that battle would have gone down.
Wanda vs. Mordo in Deleted Opening Scene
The latest episode of Marvel Studios: Assembled shared concept art of the deleted scene featuring the Scarlet Witch and Earth-616's Baron Mordo from Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
Wanda is seen in the same field in which she resides in the final cut of the movie, as Chiwetel Ejiofor's Baron Mordo approaches her from a distance.
As Mordo gets closer to her with the sun setting in the background, Wanda's hands light up with her red magic as she prepares to take out the disgruntled sorcerer.
Director Sam Raimi and head writer Michael Waldron revealed that Wanda was originally going to decapitate Mordo and present his head to Doctor Strange in what would have been the sequel's first scene.
Photos Show Wanda Going Full Scarlet Witch
Even though Wanda quickly became the main villain of Doctor Strange 2 about 20 minutes into the movie, this scene seemingly would have given her that villainous turn right off the bat.
Many fans were curious to see what became of the prime Baron Mordo, who was last seen hunting down the world's sorcerers and taking their power in the post-credits scene from 2016's Doctor Strange. Not only would this deleted scene have caught fans up on that story, but it also would have shown even more quickly that Wanda Maximoff meant business.
The scene was even teased on one of Doctor Strange 2's posters, showing Mordo and Wanda squaring off outside of the home she built in Westview, New Jersey, during WandaVision.
With this scene being left on the cutting room floor, there are certainly questions about whether the original Mordo will return in later films as Doctor Strange teams up with Charlize Theron's Clea. Even with that being a mystery, however, fans can't help but wonder what could have been if Wanda got to have her showdown against Mordo and come out on top without any doubts.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is available to stream on Disney+.
